| Author | Post |
|---|
AJ/GC/EM
Member
|
Posted: Thu May 8th, 2008 11:29 pm |
|
Editor's note: The following letter to the editor was e-mailed to the Queen Creek Independent newspaper and a portion will be in the Wednesday, May 14, issue. The entire letter is below.
Reference: East Valley Tribune May 4, 2008 Editorial - "Stop the madness, start the dancing"
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/115498
By Bob Dotson
I was in court this past Wednesday when Judge O'Neil made his ruling concerning the San Tan Flat. Even though Judge O'Neil ruled in favor of Dale Bell, Judge O'Neil spent a significant amount of time speaking directly to Dale Bell about how the Judge understood the plight of the neighbors near Mr. Bell's establishment, and how Judge O'Neil would be appalled if the County ever allowed an establishment such as Mr. Bell operates, anywhere near the Judge's home in rural Pinal County. Judge O'Neil talked of individual property rights, and the exercise of those property rights as a balancing act, rubbing together his colliding fists together to help demonstrate his point.
It is this 'balancing act' of individual property rights that I would like to address in response to the Tribune Editorial - "Stop the madness, start the dancing". I have to say I fully agree with your headline (it is truly rare that a media headline gets right to the point so clearly), we need to "Stop the madness". However, I must say the editorial itself misses the main issue that Judge O'Neil pointed out in court, and that is the balancing act of property rights between property owners.
On one side we find Mr. Bell, operating an establishment that he claims he built following all of the required guidelines and procedures, claiming he has honored all of his commitments, making claims of how good his business is for the 'community', all with what he claims are within his rights as a property owner.
On another side we find the surrounding property owners, who claim that every Friday and Saturday nights, holiday's nights, and many other nights in between, that Mr. Bell takes over our properties for his own use, blasting unbearable loud noise across our properties and into our homes, shines a glaring light across our properties into the windows of our homes, casts a blanket of smoke across our properties from the marshmallow roasting fires fouling the air our families and livestock breath, and then nightly discharges inebriated patrons onto our neighborhood streets, patrons whom routinely choose our neighborhood streets to avoid encounters with law enforcement with no consideration for the families they put at risk.
Unlike TV, radio, or the printed media where when you are offended, or tire of it, or find the timing inconvenient, then you can simply switch it off, set it aside, or not buy it in the first place; but here in our neighborhood, only Mr. Bell gets to choose what music and speech we will hear, blasting into our yards, our homes, our lives, night after night, like it or not, want it or not, only Dale Bell gets to choose when and what will be heard for all of the surrounding property owners.
Now the editorial staff of the East Valley Tribune declares "It's time for these neighbors to face up to their own prejudices and misconceptions instead of relying on Pinal County to harass San Tan Flat on their behalf." The editors East Valley Tribune, those great protectors of justice, and seekers of truth, would have us surrender our land, our homes, our dreams, our hopes, to the likes of the blatant recurring trespass from Mr. Bell, that we somehow hold some odd notions of responsible property ownership and appropriate civil behavior, that we have been duped into some kind of flawed thinking about our plight in the face of a bully, and that the idea that we might cry foul, and that it is somehow inappropriate to plead with our elected government to right the wrong, and restore the peace to our neighborhood.
If you remember, we all watched on television as a group of PSYOP soldiers played deafening rock music, 24 hours a day, over loudspeakers that ringed the Vatican Embassy compound where General Noriega had taken refuge. The siege continued until General Manuel Noriega couldn't take the 'constant bombardment of the music' anymore and surrendered. In Fallujah's (Iraq) darkened, empty streets, U.S. troops blast AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" and other rock music full volume from a huge speaker, hoping to grate on the nerves of this Sunni Muslim city's gunmen and give a laugh to Marines along the front line. This is Psychological Warfare Operations.
Granted San Tan Ranches is not a war zone (although some of your readers would like to make it one), and Mr. Bell is not by any stretch of the imagination, a hoard of terrorists bent on killing us all. However, the editorial staff of the East Valley Tribune would have us all believe that when our nation’s founding fathers were crafting the Declaration of Independence, that when Thomas Jefferson carefully scribed the concept "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.", that we all must have missed the footnote they left that holds an exception - that Mr. Bell somehow enjoys greater privilege, privilege that our founding fathers found to be so objectionable, that they were willing to risk everything to protect against it. With the 9th amendment of the US Constitution, the premise of Mr. Bell's extraordinary privilege that the editorial staff of the East Valley Tribune would try to convince us all of, is clearly dashed by "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Mr. Bell's rights clearly end where his rights deny the rights of his neighbors, and that is exactly what Mr. Bell has been doing, continues to do, and is doing so with the support of the so-called 'free press', the East Valley Tribune.
The elected and appointed government officials in Pinal County, and the State of Arizona, as agents 'of the people, by the people, for the people' have an 'absolute obligation to protect the rights of 'all of its citizens', setting aside prejudice, special interests, and all other distractions that might interfere with protection of freedom and the fair application of justice, not just for Mr. Bell, but for all of its citizens. Mr. Bell has rights, and so far, the scale for the rights proposition has leaned heavily in Mr. Bell's favor, entirely at the expense of the rights of his neighbors. Mr. Bell is not entitled to the unencumbered use of our neighborhood properties, to use as he currently chooses to, constructively seizing them for his own enjoyment and enrichment, and the county through its actions or inaction, cannot surrender our properties to Mr. Bell, or allow to continue, Mr. Bell's nightly trespass. That would effectively constitute an unlawful application of eminent domain, the taking our properties, and handing them over to Mr. Bell, having denied our neighborhood property owners due recourse, compensation and treatment under the law. The county is obliged to restore the "balance" Judge O'Neil referred to in court.
As for the editorial staff of the East Valley Tribune, I say to you: It's time for you and your readers to face up to your own prejudices and misconceptions instead of relying on the propaganda fed to you by Mr. Bell, and recognize the real injustice that is occurring, the real tragedy in our community, the damage Mr. Bell has inflicted on the trust in the press that our founding fathers recognized as so crucial to the survival of our Republic. Mr. Bell has used your publication for his own selfish purposes. Regardless how Mr. Bell has portrayed our neighbors in the San Tan Foothills, there are good, hardworking and honorable people here, caring people, and people trying their best to help our community to be great. It would sure be refreshing to see the East Valley Tribune recognize the real injustice, and come to the aid of the neighborhood under siege in the San Tan Foothills.
|
Current time is 08:43 pm | |
|
|
|